Europe's deepening financial crisis has the White House apprehensive over the potential economic and political ramifications in the United States. "The crisis in Europe remains the central challenge to global growth," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Thursday. Under pressure from the Frankfurt Group — eight European leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicholas Sarkozy, and IMF head Christine Legarde — Greece and Italy are looking to unelected technocrats to guide their nations away from fiscal catastrophe.

Chris Morris, Europe correspondent for the BBC, reports on the latest from Brussels.